In this place of ice and snow, the sun revealed its first rays in the east, causing the darkness to fade from the sky while the stars dimmed and disappeared one after another.
Below, inside one of the tunnels, Caius walked forward surrounded by ice on every side.
The cold should have been enough to make him shiver, but right now, all he felt was heat surging through his body.
They had already gathered all their strength and each person had taken their position... and of course, they began the plan without any unnecessary delay.
He stepped forward while his vast senses covered every detail around him, and with every step, he drew closer to their goal.
The ruins... and where their exit from this world was supposed to be.
And also that other thing that just happened to be there... or perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence at all.
After all, Caius didn’t believe in coincidence.
’ I wonder how this will go.’
He thought as his senses touched the first part of the Evil monster’s nest.
Perhaps he was supposed to be nervous right now... and he would have been a few months ago.
But lately, he had noticed that even the traces of fear and tension he once possessed had almost completely disappeared.
’ Maybe I’ve really gone insane.’
He thought.
In a situation like this, when he was approaching a confrontation with something capable of ending the battle before it even began, all he felt was excitement.
A smile slipped onto his lips as he muttered to himself,
"I’m really getting crazier as time goes on."
Maybe someday he would become more rational and responsible... when he found a reason to do so.
But so far, he hadn’t found that reason.
The echoes of his footsteps reverberated through the icy walls while his senses absorbed the presence of the small creatures there, along with their mother.
But she still hadn’t moved, so he continued forward without stopping.
The tunnel was almost completely straight, allowing him to see hundreds of meters ahead.
Then, at some point, he stopped.
He stood there, his smile widening, because through his senses he felt the powerful soul leave its place and enter the tunnel leading toward him.
Moments passed while he remained standing there until a faint sound began reaching him.
As if something massive were moving through the tunnels...
Which was exactly what was happening.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the cold air fill his lungs.
Then he exhaled.
"Now."
With that, essence surged through his body as he turned toward the direction he had come from.
The muscles in his legs tightened before he began running.
At that moment, the silhouette of the enormous creature appeared, charging toward him at terrifying speed... but Caius wasn’t slow either.
The moment the sharp pupil of the Evil monster saw the insect that had been disturbing it throughout the past several days, the fury within it intensified.
Its eyes became sharper while the muscles beneath its dark gray skin twisted.
Its arms smashed through the ice, spreading cracks throughout the places it passed.
Its enormous mouth opened, revealing its long tongue while saliva scattered everywhere before a tremendous roar erupted and shook the entire area.
The walls trembled, and a faint shockwave traveled through the tunnel until it reached Caius, who was running at full speed.
"Yeah, that’s it... follow me."
He ran and ran while the monster behind him drew closer with every moment...
But that was exactly what he wanted.
Ahead of him lay the faint light of dawn, while a long open space stretched for several meters before a wall rose upward where the rest of the tunnel continued.
And there, beside the fissure, stood Kyle with his bow and arrow in hand.
He stared at Caius running toward him before raising his bow and firing the arrow into the sky as a signal for the others to prepare.
Above the fissure, on the opposite side of the tunnel’s exit, the other four stood waiting.
Leona stared downward with her sword in hand while her blue eyes witnessed things that had not yet happened.
Flames gathered between Izel’s hands as she condensed them into a sphere.
Before both Ellen and Elliot rested the enormous steel needle they had forged earlier.
Elliot removed his hand from it, leaving a powerful light coating its surface and strengthening it further.
At that moment, with both hands extended forward, Ellen lifted the needle into the air with her ability, making it float in the center of the fissure above the place where Kyle stood.
When Kyle saw that, he retreated several meters to the side, leaving the area before the tunnel completely clear.
The ground beneath their feet began trembling while their hearts pounded heavily.
No one spoke...
And no one looked at anyone else.
They only had a single chance to restrict the Evil monster’s ability.
And everyone knew that failure would make the battle impossible, let alone escaping.
"Caius is about to come out."
Leona’s voice echoed through the area, warning them of what was about to happen.
At that moment, the needle rose higher into the sky while Ellen clenched her jaw and Izel directed her sphere of flame toward the area above the tunnel.
Before Caius’ eyes, the exit finally appeared, while the distance between him and the monster behind him shrank to only a few hundred meters.
Its deafening roar echoed again, making the place itself tremble as Caius finally emerged from the tunnel.
Only one thought crossed his mind.
’ It’s begun.’
Even after emerging, he didn’t stop.
Instead, he continued forward until reaching the wall on the opposite side, then entered the next tunnel and ran several dozen meters before finally stopping and turning around.
Within the darkness of his black eyes reflected the terrifying figure of the Evil monster charging toward him with madness.
With its enormous head and long white jaw resembling bone, its sharp pupil stared at the prey that had stopped before it.
Smiling, Caius drew his swords while essence flowed through his body, nourishing every cell and every fiber.
At that exact moment, through Leona’s eyes, she saw the monster emerge from the tunnel and continue toward Caius...
But that hadn’t happened yet.
So without hesitation, she shouted.
"Izel, now!"
At that instant, Izel unleashed her flames.
They struck the outer section of the tunnel ceiling and exploded against it, triggering the cracks Elliot had created earlier.
The icy ceiling collapsed downward as the world trembled beneath their feet more violently than ever before.
At the same time, the monster reached the tunnel exit, shattering the thin support pillar into meaningless fragments.
Its massive head emerged through the fissure.
And at that moment, dozens of tons of ice crashed down onto its enormous body, sending a violent shock through its spine.
The impact twisted its thick limbs before it collapsed onto the icy ground and became trapped within the tunnel it had created.
The only part left exposed was a section of its long jaw protruding from the debris and slamming into the ground from the impact.
At the same time, Ellen gritted her teeth when she spotted the exposed section below.
With all the strength she could muster, she drove the light-covered needle downward while Elliot compressed gravity around it and accelerated it to a terrifying degree.
A streak of light formed before them.
An instant later, the needle reached the monster’s jaw.
Its sharpened tip touched the white skin before piercing through it and reaching the thin bone beneath, causing it to slow.
Even so, Ellen pushed harder and harder while Elliot drove gravity to its limit.
The needle pierced through the upper jaw, passed through the monster’s closed mouth, spilling blood, and emerged from the lower jaw.
At that moment, before the monster could even comprehend the chaos that had just unfolded, the enormous needle had already passed through the front portion of its jaw and emerged from the other side.
All it felt was pain and madness...
And the taste of blood upon its tongue.
"Ellen, open it!"
Without hesitation, Ellen unfolded the needle’s wings above and below its jaw.
The buried monster tried opening its mouth to use its ability.
But the steel embedded through its jaws and locked around them opposed the direction of its movement, restraining it completely.
In the end, all that escaped was a low growl filled with fury.
Caius smiled even wider as he stared at the monster buried beneath tons of ice.
"It worked."
Their plan had succeeded.
They had buried it and restrained its mouth, preventing it from using it...
And more importantly, preventing it from using its ability.
At this moment, the Evil monster was nothing more than a powerful monster.
Powerful.
But incredibly powerful.
Before Caius could charge toward it.
Before Kyle could loose an arrow.
Before any of the others could move.
The tons of ice burying the creature trembled and shattered apart, cascading from its back as its enormous body rose once more and its buried eyes revealed themselves.
And most importantly...
Its sharp pupil had become even sharper.
And even more thirsty for blood.